55 years and 28 movies later, the Japanese monster Godzilla is looking to make his return to big screens everywhere. Making his first appearance in 1954 (Gojira) Godzilla is a giant monster that lives in the sea that comes from the ocean to feed on mankind. Bloody Disgusting has learned exclusively that Legendary Pictures is looking to do another major movie with the iconic horror monster (they are in early discussions), although there are NO details at this point other than this should be a reboot. In 1998, TriStar Pictures produced a remake set in New York City, directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Matthew Broderick. In recent interviews for 2012 Emmerich has said that he's not interested in sequels (even though all of his disaster movies are basically the same). More details as they come in.

I just hope that Toho will be involved in some way. It'd be neat to see an international collaboration of some sort, and I'd definitely love to see an IMAX 3D version (there's been a rumor about and IMAX 3D G-film for a long time but it's mostly been in Limbo).

The 3D Imax one wasn't supposed to be done by Toho. They supposedly licensed it out to Yoshimitsu Banno (director of Godzilla vs. Hedorah) to do an unaffiliated film. As you said before, though, it seems to have fallen into limbo. From what I heard about the 3D one, it was supposed to be set in South America, with Godzilla fighting a variation of Hedorah called "Deathla."

Along with not making a Disasterzilla movie, I'm also hoping that they don't go the direction that TriStar did with Godzilla's look and origin. He wasn't even recognizable anymore. I'd rather see a familiar Godzilla than some random mutant iguana running around with the same name.

"Godzilla" is coming back -- this time, with Legendary Pictures taking the lead, co-producing and co-financing with Warner Bros. for release in 2012.

Legendary announced Monday it had obtained rights to the iconic monster character from Japan's Toho Co., which has overseen more than 25 "Godzilla" films. Toho will release the pic in Japan.

Legendary said it's planning to announce a director shortly.

In addition to Legendary, producers on the new film will be Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Brian Rogers. Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira and Doug Davison will exec produce.

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise," said Thomas Tull, Chairman and CEO of Legendary. "Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop-culturally relevant for as long as it has."

Legendary noted the film will fall under its co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Legendary's productions with Warners have included "The Dark Knight," "300" and "The Hangover."

Speculation about a new "Godzilla" has been active since last summer. The Bloody Disgusting web site reported in August that the project was in development.

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To the fans of Japan's finest cultural export since ninjas, I apologize. If you're someone who goes blurry-eyed with rage at the thought of Roland Emmerich's 1998 CGI-ification of Godzilla, you might want to find something hard to bite down on for this, but there's no point in delaying the inevitable: an American studio is once again bringing the giant monster to our shores.

Details are incredibly light at this point, but it looks like Variety has just confirmed that which Bloody Disgusting first reported back in August of '09: Legendary Pictures has officially obtained the rights to Godzilla. The studio will be co-producing and co-financing a new Godzilla film with Warner Brothers as their partners. Given that we're dealing with a city-destroying, radioactive behemoth, naturally his planned arrival will precede the end of the world. Yep, a new, American Godzilla will be hitting theaters in 2012.

Obviously it's easy to be cynical at this point, but Legendary Pictures have been up to a lot of good lately, enough so that I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Without them we wouldn't have Batman Begins, 300, The Dark Knight, Trick 'r Treat, Watchmen or Where the Wild Things Are, so I'm willing to pry myself out of the fetal position for this one. There's even a note in the Variety piece from the CEO of Legendary Pictures, Thomas Tull, explaining that they intend to do the pop-culture icon Toho created over 50 years ago justice.